Knitting machine



Deg. 14, 1937. e. c. SZABO KNITTING MACHINE Filed Juhe 21, 1954 e sheets-sheetl INVENTOR. fieoryea afia, BY W' wokms s.

Dec. 14, 1937. f 'G, c, SZABQ 2,102,549

KNITTING MACHINE Fil ed June 21, 1954 e" Sheets-Sheet 2 F IGI- INVENTOR: Geozye 685450,

- 2 g I WTORNEYS.

Dec. 14, 1937. G c SZABO 2,102,549

KNITTING MACHINE 7 Filed June 21, 1934- r 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIG H- I I I I v INVENTOR: (Jen/ye 6. AS5 000,

WI 'I'NESSESI:

/ WMJW I ATTORNEYS.

D'eq. 14, 1937. c, sz 2,102,549

KNITTING MACHINE Filed June 21, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 WITNESSES; INVENTOR:

GeozyeCSZaEo,

G. c.' SZABO KNITTING MACHINE Dec. 14, 1937.

Filed June 21,

1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR: Geozye C 5:561?) I ATTORNEYS.

De.14,1937. SZABO 2,102,549

KNITTING MACHINE I Filed June 21, 1934 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 WITNESSES: I N VEN TOR:

' 0e CS M0, ATTORNEYS.

Patented Dec. 14, 1937 UNITED STATES;

PATENT OFFICE xm'rrmo momma George C. Szabo, Knoxville, Tenn., assignor to 'Holston Manufacturing Company, Knoxville,

Tenn, a corporation of Tennessee Application June 21', 1934, Serial No. 731,632

1 claim. (CL 66-42) stockings knit on machines of the type referred 10 to than possible by reverse plating alone, and at .the same time obtaining an increased output from the machines. These desiderata I realize in practice as hereinafter more fully explained, through provision of a supplemental feed to 15 serve to the needles of the machine, an auxiliary yarn contrasting with, the two yarns ordinarily used in the plating, and of a supplemental stitch cam for actuating the needles to knit theauxiliary yarn during eachrotation of the needle cylinder- -.As a-result, the rate of production of the ornamented portions of the stockings is doubled with formation of horizontal stripe effects by contrasting alternate courses of the knitting to embellish the reverse plated ornamenta- 25 171011.

Another object of my invention is to provide automatic means for withdrawing the auxiliary yarn feed and the supplemental stitch cam during the knitting of the heel and toe pockets of 30 the stockings. A

Other objects and attendant advantages will be manifest from the detailed description fol- .lowing of the attached drawings, wherein Fig. I is a side elevation. of a circular reverse plating knitting machine convenienfly embodying the present improvements.-

He. II is a fragmentary plan view of the mae chine. 1

Fig, III is a fragmentary plan sectional view 40 on a larger scale taken as indicated by the arrows III-III in. Fig. I.

Fig. IV is a horizontal sectional view taken on a lower plane as indicated by the arrows IV--IV in Fi I.

45 Fig. V is a fragmentary detail sectional viewrotation in a bed plate Ill at the top of the framework I2 of the machine. As usual, the needle cylinder I is rotated and oscillated incident to knitting of stockings by mechanism ineluding a bevel gear l3 which, see Fig. I, is 5 mountedon a horizontal shaft 14. Also as usual, the machine isv provided with five yarn fingersof which the ones numbered l5, l6 and ;l| only :are used in this instance to respectively. feed.

contrastingly colored plating yarns P, P, and 10 the heel and toe yarn I-I,said fingers being independently pivoted on an axis pin l8 in upstand ing lugs IQ of the latch guard ring 20, and controlled, through the medium of thrust rods 2|, 22 and 23 (Fig. W) from the-main cam drum 24 of the machine. v

The knitting needles 25 in the cylinder I0 are actuated by the conventional stitch cams which are shown at 26 and 21 in Fig. VI, and which are disposed at opposite sides of a top center cam 28 and a bottom guard cam 29, this cam group being located as ordinarily, directly below the yarn feed fingers I5-l'l. The needle actuating mechanism also includes a pair of lifting pickers 30 and 3t, and a drop picker'32, which cooperate in the well known manner incident to the fashioning of the heel and toe pockets of the stockings by oscillatory knitting.

The sliding sinkers indicated at 33 are of a conventional type adapted for reverse plating, said sinkers being lodged, as'usual, inthe radial guide grooves of a dial 34 on the needle cylinder l0, and actuated by the cam groove 35 of the sinker cap ring 36, see Figs. III andV. As shown in Fig. V, the sinkers 33 have special butts 33a at diiierent levels'for the purposes of selective actuation, by leaf spring cams 21 and 38' which are secured to the top of the sinker cap ring 36, and which are respectively operated by thrust rods, 39 and 40, and, 42, 43 with overhanging noses arranged at-opposite sides of the group of. thrust rods 2l-23 associated with the yarn feed fingers IE-Il. The thrust rods 39-43, like the thrust rods. 2l--23 for actuating the yarn feed fingers l,5l'l, are ordinarily controlled from the 45 main cam drum 24 of the machine, but-during reverse plating, for example, of the leg portion and instep portions of the stockings, said rods are actuated from a supplemental pattern drum 45 throughthe instrum'entality of individually a hook pawl 5|.

independent movement on a common fulcrum rod 41 projecting laterally from a bracket 46 attached to the machine frame l2, said bracket also supporting the axis pin 46 upon which the drum 45 is free to rotate. Intermittent movement is imparted to the drum 45, in clockwise direction as considered in Fig. I, through picking of a. ratchet wheel 56 connected thereto, by As shown in Fig. I, this hook pawl 5| is pivotally connected at 52 to a vertical arm 53 fulcrumed on a fixed stud 54 at the front of the machine. At its upper end the arm 53 carries a roller 55 which runs in contact with th edge of a cam 56 on the shaft l4 previously rei'erred to. Furthermore as usual, the machine is provided with a measuring chain 51 trained about a sprocket wheel 56 which is free on a shaft 59 suitably supported by the machine frame l2, and which is intermittently progressed in the known manner by suitable means coordinated with the drive mechanism of the machine.

In adapting a knitting machine such as above briefly described to the purposes of my invention, I provide a longitudinally adjustable auxiliary yarn finger 66 which I pivot for up and down movement on the axis pin l6 that serves the usual yarn feed fingers l5l'|, see Figs. I and II, said auxiliary yarn finger reaching to a point substantially 180 from the usual yarn fingers, and terminating in an eye 6| for feeding to the needles, a third yarn A contrasting in color with the plating yarns B, P'. During the knitting of reverse plated ornamented leg and instep portions of the stockings, the auxiliary yarn feed finger 60 occupies the active position illustrated in full lines in Figs. I and VI. The auxiliary yarn finger 60 is controlled by a vertical thrust rod 62 whereof the lower end is connected at 63 to the thrust rod 22 which controls the heel and toe yarn finger l6 and which is actuated by the usual circumferentially spaced peripheral lugs 64 on the main cam drum 24 of the machine. The upper end of the thrust rod 62, it will be noted, is bent laterally to engage a set screw 65 adjustable in the rearward projection or tail of the auxiliary yarn finger 66. A tension spring 66 serves to yieldingly maintain the set screw 65 in contact with the laterally bent end of the thrust rod 62, and in turn, to keep the lower end of said rod engaged with the thrust rod 22 as clearly shown in Fig. I. When the thrust rod 22 rides off the special cam lugs 64 on the cam drum 24 to permit the heel and toe yarn feed finger l6 to swing down to active position, the spring 66 concurrently operates to raise the auidliary yarn feed finger 60 to the dot-and-dash line inoperative position shown in Fig. I, in which position it is maintained during the knitting of the heel and toe pockets of the stockings with the yarn H. In order that fabric loops may be formed from the yarn A served by theauxiliary finger 66, I have provided an auxiliary stitch cam 68, see Figs. I-IV and VI which is carried by a horizontal arm 69 fulcrumed at ID to the bed plate ll of the machine. During the knitting of the leg and instep portions of the stockings the auxiliary stitch cam 68 is held in the active position shown in Fig. IV in opposition to a. tension spring II by means of a cam finger 12 which is fulcrumed intermediate its ends at 13 to the bed plate ll of the machine. As shown, the free' end of the cam finger 12 engages an upstanding stud 14 carried by the arm 69, while its other end is coupled by means of a link rod I5 with a vertical lever 16 fulcrumed at ll to a fixed pin projecting laterally from the machine frame l2. Beyond its pivot, the arm 16 is formed with a finger I8 adapted to cooperate with special circumferentiallyspaced peripheral cam lugs 19 and 66 on the main cam'drum 24 of the machine, so that, during the knitting of the heel and toe pockets of the stock-.

ings, the auxiliary stitch cam 68 is retracted to idle position concurrently with the withdrawal of the auxiliary yarn finger 60. I have also Provided, as shown in Figs. III and V, an auxiliary cam 8| for retracting the sinkers 33 at the region where the needles 25 draw fabric loops from the auxiliary yarn A under the influence of the auxiliary stitch cam 66.

The operation of the machine is as follows: Let it be assumed that the machine is knitting the leg portion of the stocking with the usual feed fingers l5 and ll in active position as shown in Fig. VI and serving the two differently colored yarns P, P' in plating relation to the needles 25, and that the auxiliary feed finger 6| is at the same time serving the contrastingly-colored yam A. I As the knitting proceeds, the spring cam fingers 31, 38 are variously manipulated by the thrust rods 39, 40 and 4I-43 under the governance of the supplemental pattern drum 45 so that the sinkers 33, prearranged in the sinker ring 36 in accordance with their different butt heights, are actuated selectively to produce a pattern design by reverse plating. During each rotation of the machine, as the sinkers 32 approach the auxiliary feed 6| they are retracted by the special cam 8|, (Fig. III), during the time that the needles draw loops from the auxiliary yarn A at said feed, returning however to their normal position in readiness to be actuated for the purpose of reverse knitting as they again approach the plating yarn feeds l5 and I1. As a consequence of the described arrangement it is possible to produce pattern effects such as exemplified in Fig. VII of the drawings wherein the three yarns are respectively indicated by the same reference numbers heretofore employed. As shown, the fabric is characterized by alternation of single loop courses 82 formed from the auxiliary yarn A, with reverse plated double loop courses 83 formed by the plating yarns P, P.

From the foregoing it will be evident that, through my invention it is possible to obtain a variety of pattern effects over those determinable by reverse plating alone with differently colored yarns, and moreover to secure an increased output from the knitting machines by virtue of successively feeding two yarns and forming two fabric courses from them during each rotation of the machines. A Havingthus described my invention, I claim:- In a circular stocking knitting machine, a pair of pivoted feed fingers for serving'two differentlycolored yarns in plating relation to the needles; an associated normally-inoperative pivoted finger for serving a heel and toe yarn to the needles; thrust rods for controlling the aforesaid feed fingers; a rotary drum for actuating the thrust rods; means to cooperate with the needles to produce ornamental effects in the fabric by prescribed reversal of the plating yarns; means for actuating the needles to knit the plating yarns; an auxiliary feed for serving a third contrasting yarn to the needles during each rotation of the machine: a separate auxiliary stitch cam for actuat ng the needles to knit the auxiliary yarn, with formation from the latter, of plain single loop fabric courses in alternation with the double loop fabric courses produced with the Plating yarns; connections from the auxiliary yarn feed aforesaid to the actuating thrustrod for the heel and toe yarn feed; connections from the auxiliary stitch cam with the cam drum aforesaid; and peripheral cam lugs on said drum respectively to efiect the withdrawal of the auxiliary stitch cam, and for operating the thrust bar controlling the heel and toe yarn feed to concurrently effect withdrawal of the auxiliary yarn feed from action and placement of the heel and toe yarn feed into action for the knitting of the heel and toe pockets. a

GEORGE C. SZABO. 

